Friday, December 5 , 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Free
Join us for an evening of music, stories, and holiday mishaps! Hosted by award winning author, JJ Lee, featuring acclaimed musician Robyn Jacob, this final volume of Better This Year: More Tales from Christmas Survivors, comes to life.
Event Details:
Doors open at 6:30pm
Registration is required, seating is general admission
Books will be available for sale
ASL interpretation will be provided by Leah Weiss
If you have any accessibility requirements, contact
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Musician:
Robyn Jacob is a composer, pianist, vocalist, and educator living and working from the unceded territories of the Sḵwxwú7mesh, Xwməθkwəyəm and Səl’il’wətaʔ Nations, also known as Vancouver. Her compositions include commissions by Grammy winning Third Coast Percussion (Chicago), Architek Percussion (Montreal), Grammy winning Sō Percussion (Brooklyn), Chor Leoni (Vancouver), and the Victoria Symphony, as well as collaborations with visual artists and instrument makers. Her avant-pop project Only A Visitor (Mint Records) has toured internationally and released four albums to date. She has released two albums with her duo project The Giving Shapes in collaboration with harpist Elisa Thorn. Her new solo project Immix explores the emotive narratives of voice and electronics. From 2012-2024 she was part of the multi-disciplinary art collective Publik Secrets, whose work includes a variety of public space interventions, performances, installations, and ephemeral gatherings, including Gamelan Bike Bike, which she co-led with artist and composer George Rahi for over ten years.
Host:
JJ Lee’s debut book was the memoir The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit. For ten years, he was a contributor, reporter, producer, and host for CBC Radio. In addition to editing Better Next Year and Upon a Midnight Clear, he leads writing workshops at the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University and the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
Contributors:
Lillian Au is a storyteller and mother. She also works as a writer/editor at a TV station. Her story “Arviat” appeared in Upon A Midnight Clear. In June 2025, her story Invasive Species was one of 13 stories featured in the book Not The Same Road Out. Lillian lives with her husband and two children on the North Shore.
Jennifer Lutes writes true stories of the beauty and humour found in life’s most bittersweet moments. She’s been published in The Globe and Mail and performed at the 2022 Fringe Festival. A mother to three daughters she makes a mean AeroPress, swims in the ocean year-round, and finds inspiration in tarot cards.
Renu Parmar is a writer, psychotherapist, and teacher. She was featured in Situate Magazine as best emerging writer. Her coming-of-age novel The Colour of Snow explores identity, grief, and ancestral trauma. It was a First Novel finalist for the Independent Authors Network in 2020. Currently, she is exploring other genres, including essay, prose poetry, and the short story.
Deb Williams is an award-winning actor, playwright, producer, and comedian. She co-created and starred in the Mom’s The Word plays and is the artistic producer of The Flame, Vancouver’s premiere storytelling event. She is also a personal narrative teacher, coach, and facilitator collaborating with queer youth, the Anishinaabe Nation, and incarcerated men at William Head Institution.
The music is made possible thanks to a generous bequest in support of music at the Library from the estate of Robert Leslie Welsh, through the West Vancouver Memorial Library Foundation.
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